Okay, imagine that the last fifteen chapters were like a super-duper long prologue and the story is finally starting. I know crazy right? But for this story, we have now skipped about one year into the future. If you want a sort of timeline, here it is.

The summer before Percy's capture, was the end of the Titan War (from Rick Riordan's books). The summer after the war about mid-June (that's when I end school, so I'm guessing the East coast is the same), Percy is captured. He stays about one month in the School and then escapes with Raven about mid-or-late-July. We have now skipped forwards a year to about early August, just before school starts. So there you have it.

Chapter 14 – The Average Life of your Average Bird-Kid

(One year later)

Raven stared at the sky, trying to judge the exact time it was, but after a few minutes, the girl gave up and made a mental note to steal a watch or something the next chance she had.

Sighing, Raven idly stretched out her wings so that they were more comfortable.

What were a few more minutes? The boy needed his rest anyways. They had had a rough week.

Erasers had attacked them nearly a week ago, and since then, Raven and her friend had been running, well flying actually, non-stop. If Raven had read the sign right, they were now in the northern part of California.

Ugh, California, Raven thought distastefully.

For about a year now, the two of them had been running… flying… whatever, to get away from Erasers. Their escape had been the greatest day of Raven's short, pathetic life, but it had only led to another prison. So far, Raven and her companion had traveled all over California and the surrounding states. They hadn't gotten any farther than that because the Erasers continued to pursue and herd them away from the East. And now, here they were, back in the same state where they had begun in.

They had traded a life of trapped existence for a life of running, lack of food, and constant danger. It wasn't much of a life. In fact, it sucked so much that on the really bad days, Raven wanted to roll over and die, but as soon as a though like that would come up, she would viciously shut it out; she would never let any Eraser touch her again. And no matter how bad this new life was, she would choose it over the School in a heartbeat.

And plus, it wasn't all bad. On the few rare days that they managed to shake off the Erasers, the two bird-kids found some way to enjoy themselves. Two teenage runaways could be pretty creative when it came to amusing themselves. Raven wouldn't trade those times for the world.

Raven looked back at the still nameless boy. They had not found a name for him yet, so Raven kept making up names for him, but name or no name, he was the best thing that had happened to her since she had been abducting six years ago. And she wasn't just saying that because he had helped her escape.

They were each other's lifelines. When one was hurt or depressed the other would be there to pick that person back up. Without each other, they would have died a long time ago, or worse (yes, there were worse things than death, namely the School).

I guess it's time to wake him up, Raven thought with a tinge of regret. She hated to have to break that peaceful look on her friend's face.

Raven paused briefly going through her mental list until she picked new name for the day.

"Good morning, camper," Raven called in a high-pitched annoying voice. "Time to wake up!"

The boy moaned and rolled over.

"Get up, Luke," Raven said a little more forcefully, using the name she had just picked a few seconds ago. "Move you lazy butt. I've been up for hours, so it's time for you to get up too."

The boy groaned again, but sat up this time. He blinked away the dazed look, and was instantly awake. Constantly running forced you to create strange habits like waking up at a moments notice.

The teen looked at Raven and said, "Not Luke."

Raven blinked, surprised. The "name game" (as Raven so cleverly called it) began when Raven thought of a new name for him and they kept it until the boy or Raven declared they didn't like it. The objective was to see how long they could keep one name. Today, Raven had apparently failed miserably.

"Wow," Raven said, deflating quickly when the new name was shot down. "Usually it takes you at least a few days before you say you don't like the name. Why not Luke?"

The boy shrugged. "I don't know. I just don't like that one. Pick another one."

Raven huffed slightly before saying, "How 'bout Bradley?"

"Can't," the teen countered, smiling at Raven's small pout. "You used that one a few months ago."

"Well, sorry I don't remember all the names I've called you in the past year," Raven snapped back. She paused. Then finally spoke up in a voice that left little room for argument, "You're Josh."

The newly dubbed "Josh" shrugged and let out a small laugh.

Raven smiled. She couldn't help it.

"Wait, good morning?" the Josh, gesturing to the already dark sky and referring to her earlier wake up call.

Raven shrugged. "Good morning, good night, same thing," she muttered. The two bird-kids had made it a habit to sleep during the day and fly at night when no one would see and question two flying kids.

After a few moments of teasing each other, Raven made a move to stand up, but then stiffened. Something tingled in the back of her mind.

Josh noticed Raven's sudden tension. "What is it? Erasers?" he whispered.

Raven shook her head no and whispered back, "The others."

To their left, a loud crashing noise could suddenly be heard. The bushes parted to reveal a huge black dog. The two bird kids stared at it in slight apprehension; this dog could easily eat two bird-kids and happily go back for seconds, maybe thirds.

Its body took up as much room as a truck, the blood red eyes gazed hungrily down at the two frozen teens, and he (or she; it was hard to tell from this angle) snarled at them just to show off the pointed canines.

"Crap," was all Raven could mutter as she got into a fighting stance.

Did Raven forget to mention that along with the running, the shortage of food, and Erasers trying to rip them to shreds, these strange monsters kept popping up where ever they went? Yep, as their luck goes, they attracted them like a plague.

Welcome to the life of your average bird-kid freak.

Josh took one look at the monster-dog in front of him and slipped his pen out of his pocket. He uncapped it so that it grew into the "large, freaky, magic sword" (as Raven had so eloquently called it). Personally, Josh preferred the name Riptide. He didn't know where the name came from, but it seemed to fit.

A few weeks after their escape from the School, their first monster had attacked Josh and Raven. It was during that fight that Josh had rediscovered the pen in his pocket and instinctively uncapped it. When the cap came off, Josh found himself holding a large, bronze sword. The sword had at first freaked both him and Raven out, but after the initial shock had subsided, they had found it quite useful in monster fighting.

In front of him, the monster-dog eyed the gleaming metal, but unfortunately it didn't take the hint and slowly advanced forward.

Josh knew that all the monsters they had encountered since they left the School were related in some way because Raven said the energy surrounding them all felt the same despite their different appearances. Because of her abilities to control electricity, Raven could sense and tell apart different electric fields when close enough. Also whenever they succeeded in killing one, they all curiously exploded into a strange gold dust.

Both bird-kids watched the monster-dog come completely out of the undergrowth. The daylight had completely vanished, but with their battle-hardened lives, that fact would hardly slow the two teens down. Unfortunately, the lack of light did not seem to hinder the dog either.

"Can't you guys just leave us alone?" Raven spat.

The bird-kids could have easily flown away, but they had learned quite early on that these strange monsters were quite persistent in tracking their prey. Better to kill them now and get it over with.

The monster-dog took a step forward with a snarl.

Raven, not wanting to be outdone, also took a step forward and let out a vicious growl.

Sometimes, Josh didn't know if Raven was insanely brave, seriously ticked off, or just plain stupid in moments like these. What he did know was that her feral act was definitely not helping their situation, but then again, she was Raven, and telling her to back off would gain him nothing, especially in the heat of a battle.

Obviously, the monster-dog took offense to the bird-kid's returning fury, so it did the most natural thing and charged with a blood-curdling howl.

Josh felt the hard-wired instincts and few weeks of training at the School kick in, and easily jumped to one side as the black wall of fur stampeded past him.

When he landed again, he took note that Raven had already launched herself into the air, her hands sparking with electricity.

This was how they normally fought. Raven in the air; Josh firmly planted on the ground.

Josh preferred fighting on the ground, only using his wings when absolutely necessary. It worked out well anyways. The enemy would have to watch all sides. Focusing on just one bird-kid would lead to a serious slashing from the other.

Unfortunately for the dog, this didn't register in his one-track mind as he whirled around and instantly charged at Josh again.

Josh grinned. This was too easy. He lowered his weapon and let his previous smile slip into a bored expression as if the charging monster was merely doing some old trick instead of trying to rip his head from his shoulders.

Infuriated even more, the dog increased its speed and ran headlong into a blast of electricity.

Surprised, the dog reared back, yelping as the electricity stung his face and burned his disgusting, matted fur.

Josh took the distraction to raise his weapon and deliver the final blow. The dog didn't even have time to yelp again as it instantly exploded into the golden dust the weird monsters always disintegrated into.

Sighing, Josh recapped his sword so that it shrank back into a pen and pocketed it.

"Good job," Raven said as she landed.

"You too," he replied, although his voice betrayed how tired he was of the constant fighting his confusing life insisted on retaining.

They walked back to their small campsite and began to gather their things.

"We're running low on supplies," Raven stated, her eyes scrutinizing their few belongings. "Do you want to fly or walk to the nearest town?"

Josh didn't even know why Raven always asked his opinion about that when she already knew his answer. "Walk," he grunted, pulling on a black jacket he had nabbed from an unattended laundry mat. The jacket fell over his wings and easily hid them from view.

He turned around and saw that Raven was scowling at his answer. He chuckled. Raven always preferred flying since she thought it was faster and she liked the feeling of the wind in her face. Josh, in stark comparison, pushed to walk whenever possible. One year of flying and he was still uncomfortable about launching into the air.

"Fine," she said. "But for the record, I still think it's weird that after all this time, you're still afraid of heights."

"I'm not afraid of heights," he reminded her for the thousandth time.

"Sure," she said, pulling on her own jacket.

Raven was just about to reach for their things when a sound made her freeze. Several howls pierced the peaceful morning. They called to one another in the night.

Raven and Josh glanced at one another.

Raven's eyes burned and she snarled, "He had friends."

His life could never be easy. It was a constant struggle each and everyday to live, whether that struggle is fighting monsters and Erasers or trying to get food to eat. Right now, the struggle consisted of a whole pack of monster-dogs.

Yep, on days like this, his life just plain sucked.

The bird-kids had been caught off guard when the pack charged into their clearing. They had appeared too fast for Raven get a fair warning via her powers, so as of right now, Josh was separated from his companion and using Riptide to hack through the mass of fur in an attempt to find her.

"Back OFF you mangy mutts!" a voice yelled to his left.

Raven was pretty easy to find in a fight.

If her angry voice didn't alert you, the flashes of electricity did.

Josh began to make his way towards the voice until he saw his fellow bird-kid who was currently zapping a monster-dog back a few feet.

Raven caught sight of Josh and yelled, "Come to join the party?"

Josh grinned at her and raised his weapon as his response. The bird-kids fought back-to-back keeping the angry monster-dogs at bay. They were easy enough to fight since they were obviously not very bright, but the sheer number of them was beginning to overwhelm them. Josh was just about to suggest that they take off their jackets and make their flying get-away when—

Whoosh. Thud.

The monster-dog right in front of him made a strangled cry as an arrow seemed to appear out of nowhere and lodge painfully in his neck. The monster-dog collapsed, convulsed a few times, and finally disintegrated into gold dust.

Josh stared at the bronze-tipped arrow.

Whoosh. Whoosh.

The air was suddenly alive with arrows as rained down on the enemy.

Josh and Raven took a step back in shock as three teens appeared from their right. One had a bow and was loosing arrows in rapid succession. The other two held old-fashion weapon and they both charged into the pack of monster-dogs.

Both bird-kids watched as the three strangers charged the pack.

The monster-dogs took an interest in the newcomers and left the two stunned bird-kids alone.

Josh was about to join the fight when he noticed that they three teens seemed to be doing well on their own. The pack of monster-dogs had now lessened to about five, and they didn't last long.

Thinking quickly, Josh capped Riptide, not wanting to bring unnecessary attention to himself.

Before he knew it, Josh saw the army of monster-dogs completely succumb to the strangers' weapons.

The three teens finished the last monster-dog and talked among themselves. They glanced at Josh and Raven and then approached the two bird-kids.

"Are you all right?" a male voice asked them.

Josh noticed a shadow behind them and shouted, "Look out!"

All three whirled around weapons raised, but then relaxed.

"Don't worry," a female voice said. "Mrs. O'Leary is with us."

Josh looked back at the panting shadow and wondered briefly who would name their dog Mrs. O'Leary.

The monster-dog suddenly barked, shaking the ground, and lunged for Josh.

This startled the three kids, and one of them, an pale teen, caught the dog's collar.

"No," the boy said sharply. "Down, Mrs. O'Leary. They don't want to play."

The monster-dog whimpered and struggled against the boy's hold, but the boy must have been a lot stronger than he looked because eventually he was able to get the dog to sit, although she still glanced sorrowful at Josh.

"Hey, David," pale teen said to the other boy in the group. "Can you get us some light?"

The person named David said something Josh couldn't hear and started rummaging in his backpack.

"So…" Raven finally spoke up. "Thanks and all for the help. You really saved us back there, but, um, we need to get going. Our parents are probably worried about us hiking so late."

Josh knew why Raven wanted to leave so badly. She was bad with people. Years of being at the School had made her pretty antisocial, so she was eager to leave and not get involved with complete strangers.

"Yeah," he went along with the lie. "We're probably going to get in big trouble for staying out so late."

Raven and Josh turned to leave, and at that moment, David had finally found a lantern or something and immediately, its light illuminated the small clearing.

Josh winced at the sudden light. He heard three consecutive gasps. He blinked back at their gaping mouths in confusion. Did he really look that bad right now? Did he get more beat up then he felt?

He shrugged and started to turn away. "Thanks again."

A hand caught his own before he could begin walking away, and the soft voice that followed made his pause.

"Percy?"

~Bluesky21543